Pile product

ABSTRACT

A pile product, wherein shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers are mixed to prepare a sliver, and the sliver is subjected to pile-processing to constitute a pile portion. The sliver contains 20 to 98% by weight of the shrinkable staple fiber having a shrinkage percentage of 15% or more, 0.300 or less of statical friction coefficient between fiber-fiber after shrinkage, an average fiber length of 15 to 25 mm, and larger waves, including primary crimps, of 1 to 3/inch, and has a sliver strength of 3 g/g/m or more. The shrinkable staple fiber preferably has an organopolysiloxane deposited on the surface thereof. The sliver is subjected to pile-processing to constitute a pile portion. Operating property is good in spinning fibers which constitute a pile portion, and fiber loss in pile-processing is less. The pile product is excellent in a drape property, and has an appearance- and a feeling, very similar to those of a natural fur.

[0001] This application is a division of prior application Ser. No. 09/634,873 filed Aug. 7, 2000; which is a division of prior application Ser. No. 08/865,161 filed May 29, 1997.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a pile product, a process for producing the same, and a shrinkable staple fiber and a sliver which are used for the pile product. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pile product prepared by pile processing a sliver comprising shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers, and a process for producing the pile product, by which the operating property and workability at the time of preparing the sliver comprising the shrinkable staple fibers and the non-shrinkable staple fibers in the pile-processing and at the time of sliver-knitting using the sliver obtained can be improved, and also fiber loss in pile-processing can be decreased. The pile product thus obtained has an appearance and a feeling similar to those of a natural fur.

[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0005] Among various pile products, a product known as artificial fur is generally constituted of, from its appearance, a down hair portion consisting of shrinkable fibers and a guard hair portion consisting of non-shrinkable fibers. In general, this pile product is prepared by the following process in which shrinkable fibers and non-shrinkable fibers are mixed and carded to prepare a sliver carding, knitting is conducted using the obtained sliver and fibers which constitute a ground fabric, and the shrinkable fibers and non-shrinkable fibers of the sliver are implanted on the surface of the ground fabric while knitting the ground fabric, whereby a pile portion is formed on the surface of the ground fabric. In this procedure, considering the spinnability in preparing the sliver, fibers having an average fiber length of 32 mm or more are generally used as the shrinkable fibers for constituting the down hair. However, in the case where a pile product having a pile length of 12 mm or less is produced, if shrinkable fibers having a larger fiber length of 32 mm or more as described above are used, the fiber loss in a subsequent shearing process increases, leading to a high cost for the product. If shrinkable fibers having a smaller fiber length of, for example, 25 mm or less, are used in order to decrease the fiber loss, in spinning when preparing the sliver, the entanglement property of the sliver after passing through the carding step is markedly decreased, and also the strength of the sliver is decreased. As a result, a problem occurs that productivity and operating property are markedly decreased due to the occurrence of sliver breakage in the preparation of the sliver, and in the subsequent knitting step. In addition, in the case where the length of the shrinkable fibers is short, the shrinkable fibers are intertwined with each other when shrinkage-processing the pile portion in the post-processing, or the shrinkable fibers shrink in the state that the non-shrinkable fibers are entangled by the shrinkable fibers, so that entanglement of fibers with each other is strengthened. As a result, there is such a problem that, in crimp elongation of fibers in the subsequent polishing step, its function effects only the portion near the surface of the pile, and a finished state of the raised pile is markedly poor as compared with that of a natural fur. Further, there are the problems in the quality of a commercial product that friction or roughness is remarkable in view of the feel, the drape property is greatly lacking, clothes made from the pile product do not fit a human body, and the form is unnatural and is extremely inferior to a natural fur. Also, if it is attempted to prevent the sliver breakage in the pile-processing by using staple fibers having increased crimp numbers as the shrinkable fibers, thereby improving the convergent property of the sliver, the quality of the sliver is decreased due to occurrence of neps or spots in the carding step, a decrease in the degree of parallelization of fibers, or the like. In addition, sufficient elongation cannot be made due to a large number of crimps in crimp elongation of fibers in the polishing step which is a post-step, and the feel of the prepared pile product, and the finishing state, are extremely inferior to a natural fur.

[0006] In view of the above-described problems in the production of pile products, the present invention has been made, and therefore an object of the invention is to provide a pile product and a process for producing the same, wherein sliver breakage does not occur in the pile-processing, even if fibers having a small fiber length are used as shrinkable fibers, and productivity, operating property and processability are excellent, fiber loss in a pile-processing stage can be decreased, and the reel or drape property of the finished product is excellent.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The pile product according to the present invention comprises a sliver comprising shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers, wherein the sliver contains 20 to 98% by weight of the shrinkable staple fibers having a shrinkage percentage of 15% or more, having an average fiber length of 15 to 25 mm and containing 1 to 3/inch of larger waves, including primary crimps, and has a sliver strength of 3 g/g/m or more, and the sliver is subjected to pile-processing to form a pile portion.

[0008] The process for producing the pile product according to the present invention comprises mixing shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers, and subjecting the mixed fibers to pile-processing to form a pile portion, wherein the sliver contains 20 to 98% by weight of the shrinkable fibers having a shrinkage percentage of 15% or more, having an average fiber length of 15 to 25 mm and containing 1 to 3/inch of larger waves, including primary crimps, and has a sliver strength of 3 g/g/mm or more, and the sliver is subjected to pile-processing to form a pile portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]FIG. 1 is an enlarged projected view showing a conventional staple synthetic fiber having only primary crimps; and

[0010]FIG. 2 is an enlarged projected view showing the shrinkable staple synthetic fiber according to the present invention having primary crimps, and secondary crimps including the primary crimps.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The shrinkable staple fibers used in the present invention are thermoplastic fibers having a shrinkage percentage of 15% or more, and preferably 20% or more. The reason for this is that when pile knitted and woven fabrics are finished using shrinkable fibers having a shrinkable percentage of less than 15%, a pile height of a guard hair portion constituted of the non-shrinkable fibers approaches that of a down hair portion, and the corrugated pile effect is decreased. Further, the reason why thermoplastic fibers are preferably used as the shrinkable fibers is that crimp elongation of fibers are expected to be done by the subsequent polishing effect, that is, by hot rolls with edges. The non-shrinkable fibers intended for use in the present invention are fibers having a shrinkable percentage of 55 or less.

[0012] Crimp form of the shrinkable staple fibers used in the present invention is explained below.

[0013] In general, the number of crimps is obtained by applying a constant load to a fiber, counting the number of crests and valleys and dividing the number by 2, and is measured according to JIS L-1015. These are primary crimps in the shrinkable staple fibers of the present invention. The crimp form of the shrinkable staple fibers of the present invention is characterized by having the above-described primary crimps and larger waves including the primary crimps (these waves are hereinafter referred to as “secondary crimps”).

[0014]FIG. 1 is an enlarged projected view showing a general staple fiber having primary crimps and fiber length of 20 mm.

[0015]FIG. 2 is an enlarged projected view showing the shrinkable staple fiber according to the present invention having primary crimps and secondary crimps, and a fiber length of 20 mm.

[0016] It is apparent from these drawings that the shrinkable staple fibers of the present invention have a characteristic crimp form of both primary crimps and secondary crimps. The number of the secondary crimps intended in the present invention is measured by fixing a single fiber to a ground paper and counting the number of crests and valleys per one inch (25.4 mm). In the carding step in a short fiber spinning step for preparing the sliver in the pile-processing, if the number of crimps is too large, the problem generally occurs that quality of the sliver is decreased due to occurrence of neps or spots, or decrease in degree of pallelization of fiber. Further, in the case of conventional fibers having only primary crimps, if the fiber has a short length, the problem occurs that productivity is markedly decreased. Contrary to this, the present invention effectively combines the primary crimps and the secondary crimps to obtain a novel crimp form suitable for sliver making. The number of the primary crimps in the shrinkable staple fiber is preferably in the range of 6 to 17/inch, and more preferably in the range of 8 to 15/inch. Further, the number of the secondary crimps including the primary crimps is 1 to 3/inch, and it is necessary that 70% or more of the secondary crimps in this range should be contained in the staple. This proportion is preferably 80% or more, and more preferably 90% or more. In the shrinkable staple fibers of the present invention, if the number of the secondary crimps substantially exceeds the above-noted range, the problem occurs that the quality of the sliver is decreased due to occurrence of neps or spots in the carding step, and as a result, a product having good quality cannot be obtained. On the other hand, if the number of the secondary crimps is less than the above-noted range, the problem arises that sliver breakage occurs in the carding step, and the productivity is markedly decreased. When a sliver is prepared by carding 20 to 98% by weight, and preferably 40 to 95% by weight, of the shrinkable staple fibers and the non-shrinkable staple fibers, the sliver strength can be 3.0 g/g/m or more, and there is no problem on the sliver making property in the carding step. Further, the quality of the sliver is good) similar to the case of using shrinkable fibers having a large fiber length.

[0017] The fiber length of the shrinkable staple fibers used in the present invention is in the range of 15 to 25 mm, and preferably in the range of 18 to 22 mm. If the fiber length exceeds 25 mm, it is possible to prepare the sliver even in the conventional crimp form, but the fiber loss is large. On the other hand, if the fiber length of the shrinkable staple fibers is less than 15 mm, sliver breakage occurs in the carding step, resulting in difficulty-forming practical fibers. The average fiber length of the shrinkable staple fibers of the present invention is a value measured according to JIS L-1015. This measurement method of the fiber length of the staple fiber according to JIS L-1015 is briefly explained below.

[0018] A single fiber is randomly picked up one by one from 100 g of staple fibers, the single fiber is stretched straight without elongation, and the fiber length is measured on a placed measure in mm units. The number of fibers used for measurement is set to 200, and the average value of the fiber length is obtained by calculating to the first decimal place.

[0019] The shrinkable staple fiber used in the present invention has a monofilament fineness of 1.0 to 10 denier, and preferably 2 to 6 denier. If the fineness of the shrinkable staple fiber is less than 1.0 denier, or more than 10 denier, the sliver making property in the carding step is decreased, and there is a tendency for it to be difficult to form a practical fiber. The cross section of the monofilament of the shrinkable staple fiber according to the present invention is not particularly limited. Fibers having a cross section of a circular shape, a cocoon shape or a slightly deformed shape thereof, which is the cross section of an acrylic fiber obtained by wet method or a dry method, may be used. Further, fibers having flattened, elliptical or hollow cross section fibers, which have been deformed in order to exhibit the characteristics of luster and the like, may also be used.

[0020] The shrinkable staple fiber used in the present invention is not particularly limited. In general, an acrylonitrile polymer or copolymer, containing 30% by weight or more of acrylonitrile, is dissolved in an organic solvent such as acetone to prepare a spinning solution. The spinning solution may contain titanium oxide, a plurality of colorants, and stabilizers having the effects of anti-corrosion, anti-coloration, and fastness to light, so long as such do not adversely affect the spinning. This spinning solution is generally spun from nozzles with a wet or dry spinning method, followed by stretching and drying. If necessary, further stretching and heat treatment may be conducted. Yarns thus obtained are stretched 1.2 to 4.0 times at 70 to 140° C., thereby obtaining a shrinkable fiber having a shrinkage percentage of 15%or more. The shrinkage percentage of 15% or more intended in the present invention means that either the wet heat shrinkage percentage or dry heat shrinkage percent is 15% or more. Further, the shrinkage percentage of non-shrinkable fiber the 5% or less means that either of wet heat shrinkage percentage or the dry heat shrinkage percentage is 5% or less.

[0021] The crimp form having 1 to 3/inch of larger secondary crimps including the primary crimps in the shrinkable fiber of the present invention is obtained by fixing a tow discharged from a puch-in type crimper to a crimp form with a dry heat treating machine. That is, it may be conducted by treating the tow filled in a crimper stuffing box in a dry heat treating machine at 70 to 100° C. while maintaining its tow density. If the treating temperature of the dry heat treating machine is lower than 70° C., the water content in the tow is not removed, and as a result, good quality cannot be achieved. On the other (hand, if the treating temperature is higher than 100° C., elongation phenomenon of the crimp due to hot air tends to occur or shrinkage percentage tends to greatly decrease. For those reasons, it is preferred to conduct the treatment in the above-described temperature range. The crimp form-fixed fiber as described above is taken out of the dry heat treating machine and cooled.

[0022] The fiber loss percentage in the pile-processing intended in the present invention means loss of monofilaments which have fallen down in the carding-knitting steps and loss of fibers by cutting to a pile length in the shearing after the polishing finish. The effect of decreasing fiber loss shows a remarkable difference as the content of the shrinkable fiber of the present invention, which is the down hair, increases. If the specific shrinkable fiber of the present invention does not constitute 20% of the fiber in the pile portion, the fiber loss does not substantially differ from that in which conventional shrinkable fibers are used.

[0023] The second characteristic of the pile product according to the present invention is the use of shrinkable fiber showing 0.300 or less of statical friction coefficient between fibers after shrinkage. In order to obtain such a statical friction coefficient, it is necessary to deposit a finishing agent which can impart smoothness to the surface of the shrinkable fiber. The finishing agents are preferably organopolysiloxanes, and more preferably, organopolysiloxanes having an epoxy or amino group. The agents may be used alone or as a mixture of two or more thereof. Examples of the organopolysiloxanes which can be used in the present invention include methylhydrogenpolysiloxane, methylvinylpolysiloxane, alkoxysiloxane, epoxy-containing polysiloxane, and amino-containing siloxane. Of these the epoxy-containing organopolysiloxane has, for example, a viscosity at 25° C. of 300 to 500,000 cst, and an epoxy equivalent of preferably 600 to 10,000. The amino-containing organopolisiloxane has, for example, a viscosity at 25° C. of 50 to 500,000 cst, and an amine equivalent of 600 to 10,000. However, finishing agents are not limited to the above. The above organopolysiloxanes may be used in combination with one or more of other organopolysiloxanes, and further in combination with one or more of silanes such as aminosilane, epoxysilane or mercaptosilane. If required and necessary, other finishing agents, for example, antistatic agents, water repellents, oil repellents, feeling modifiers, SR processing agents, or the like may also be used together.

[0024] The amount of the organopolysiloxane deposited to the shrinkable staple fiber used in the present invention is 0.008 to 1.0% by weight, and preferably 0.03 to 0.5% by weight, calculated as silicon atoms. However, it is preferred to appropriately determine the deposition amount by the statical friction coefficient between fiber and fiber after shrinkage of the shrinkable staple fibers used. If the amount of the organopolysiloxane deposited is such that the statical friction coefficient between fiber and fiber after shrinkage is larger than 0.300, intertwining of fibers with each other increases, and as a result, it is difficult to conduct a polishing finish. On the other hand, if the amount thereof exceeds 1.0% by weight, fibers agglomerate markedly when piled, and the appearance may deteriorate. Summarizing the above, if the statical friction coefficient between fiber and fiber after shrinkage is 0.300 or less, intertwining between fibers after shrinkage is decreased, so that the fiber has the easy-polishing property, and the appearance becomes good when finished into a pile. However, if the deposition amount of the organopolysiloxane exceeds 1.0% by weight calculated as silicon atom, the polishing finish is good, but pile portions are agglomerated to form a tufts, so that the appearance tends to deteriorate.

[0025] Thus, the pile product wherein a pile portion comprises the sliver containing 20 to 98% by weight, and preferably 40 to 95% by weight, of the shrinkable staple fiber of the present invention has an excellent finished appearance, feeling, and particularly drape property, as compared with a pile product wherein the pile portion comprises conventional shrinkable fibers, i.e,. shrinkable fibers having a statical friction coefficient of more than 0.300. Such effects become further remarkable as the content of the shrinkable fibers increases. On the other hand, if the content of the shrinkable staple fibers in the sliver which constitutes the pile portion is less than 20% by weight, such a pile product has no substantial difference from a pile knitted and woven fabric using conventional shrinkable staple fibers. If the content thereof exceeds 98% by weight, the above-described effects are remarkable. However, since the guard hair portion is extremely reduced thereby, the balance between the guard hair portion and the down hair portion is broken, us decreasing the commercial value of the product.

[0026] The pile fiber product according to the present invention is produced by mixing the shrinkable staple fibers and the non-shrinkable fibers to form a sliver, subjecting the sliver to regular pile-processing to implant the shrinkable fibers and the non-shrinkable fibers on a surface of a ground fabric, thereby forming a pile portion, and subjecting the resulting product to the steps of shearing, polishing, and the like. The pile product of the present invention thus obtained shows a touch very close to animal hairs.

[0027] Even if staple fibers having a short fiber length are used, sliver breakage does not occur, and sliver making can be conducted with high productivity and with excellent operating property. As a result, a decrease in fiber loss in the pile-processing can be achieved, an easy-polishing property can be achieved in the processing after high pile formation, and a high pile product having excellent finish and feel can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0028] Prior to describing the Examples and the Comparative Examples, an evaluation method of the fiber used and the pile preparation method are described in detail below.

[0029] (1) Statical Friction Coefficient

[0030] A statical friction coefficient between fiber and fiber was measured using a fiber statical friction coefficient measuring machine using the Roder method (a product of Aoi Seiki Kenkyusho)

[0031] (2) Wet Heat Shrinkage Percentage

[0032] A length (Lw) of a sample fiber before shrinkage was measured under a load of 10 mg/denier. The sample fiber was shrunk by a treatment with steam for 30 minutes under ordinary pressure, and the temperature of the sample fiber was returned to room temperature. The length (L′w) of the sample fiber thus treated was measured under a load of 10 mg/denier. The shrinkage percentage was calculated by the following equation (1).

Shrinkage percentage (%)=(Lw−L′w)/Lw×100  (1)

[0033] (3) Dry Heat Shrinkage Percentage

[0034] Dry heat shrinkage percentage was measured according to the measurement of the wet heat shrinkage percentage, except that shrinkage was conducted in a heated oven at 130° C. for 30 minutes. Fiber length (Ld) before shrinkage and fiber length (L′d) after shrinkage were measured, and the shrinkage percentage was calculated by the following equation (2).

Shrinkage percentage (%)=(Ld−L′d)/Ld×100  (2)

[0035] (4) Sliver Strength

[0036] Load at the maximum strength of a sliver after carding was measured with a tensile tester (TENSIRON, a trade name, a product of Toyo Seiki Co.), and the sliver strength was calculated from the weight (g/m) of the sliver using the following equation (3).

Sliver strength (g/g/m)=Load (g)

maximum strength/weight (g/m) of sliver  (3)

[0037] (5) Preparation of High Pile

[0038] Shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable fibers were mixed, followed by controlling the moisture. The resulting mixture was passed through an opener and a card to prepare a card sliver. The card sliver and fibers which constitute a ground fabric were supplied to a high pile weaving and knitting machine to conduct sliver knitting, thereby forming a pile portion with the shrinkable fibers and the non-shrinkable fibers on the surface of the ground fabric. The pile portion was cut by shearing to form the pile length in a constant length, and an acrylic acid ester adhesive was coated on the back surface of the ground fabric. During the back coating, steam was sprayed from the back surface side of the ground fabric to thereby shrink the shrinkable fibers in the pile portion and also to increase the adhesiveness of the adhesive. The resulting product was dried at 130° C. for 10 minutes to complete the shrinkage-processing, and polishing finish and shearing were conducted to finish the product into a high pile.

[0039] The present invention is described in more detail by referring to the following Examples and the Comparative Examples, but the invention is not limited thereto.

EXAMPLE 1

[0040] Modacrylic polymer composed of 49.4% by weight of acrylonitrile, 49.9% by weight of vinyl chloride and 0.7% by weight of sodium styrenesulfonate was dissolved in acetone such that the polymer concentration was 30% by weight. 0.4% by weight of titanium oxide and a plurality of coloring agents were added to the resulting solution to prepare a spinning solution. The spinning solution was spun in a 30% acetone aqueous solution, stretched 1.5 times, washed with water at 60° C., dried at 130° C., and then further stretched 2.0 times at 100° C. to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 3.0 denier and a total fineness of 100,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated at 70° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 1.5 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 80° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 10/inch and secondary crimp of 1/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 38.2% and a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 35.2%. This crimp tow was mixed with 50% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 20 mm and 50% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 11 denier, fiber length 44 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, although shrinkable staple fibers having a short fiber length of 20 mm were used in carding the staple fiber with a roller card, sliver breakage did not occur, and a sliver having a strong divergent force could be obtained. The sliver thus spun had a size of 5 g/m and a strength of 8 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 1 below. As is apparent from the results, the appearance and feel of the high pile were good.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1

[0041] A spinning solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 6.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 70° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 1.0 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried with a dry heat treating machine at 75° C. while decreasing the tow density to an extent such that crimps were not elongated. This crimp tow was cut in a fiber length of 20 mm to obtain shrinkable staple fibers having primary crimps of ⁶/inch and which did not have secondary crimp. The shrinkable staple fibers thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 38.2% and dry heat shrinkage percentage of 35.2%. Using the shrinkable staple fibers, it was attempted to prepare a sliver in the same manner as in Example 1, but sliver breakage occurred frequently in the carding step, and it was impossible to prepare a high pile.

EXAMPLE 2

[0042] Modacrylic polymer composed of 49.4% by weight of acrylonitrile, 49.9% by weight of vinylidene chloride and 0.7% by weight of sodium styrenesulfonate was dissolved in acetone such that the polymer concentration was 30% by weight. 0.4% by weight of titanium oxide and a plurality of coloring agents were added to the resulting solution to prepare a spinning solution. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 4.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 80° C. with steam was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 1.7 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 100° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 11/inch and secondary crimps of 2/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 35.3% and a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 32.3%. This crimp tow was mixed with 60% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 20 mm and 40% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 11 denier, fiber length 44 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, although shrinkable staple fibers having a short fiber length of 20 mm were used in carding the staple fiber with a roller card, sliver breakage did not occur, and a sliver having a strong divergent force could be obtained. The sliver thus spun had a size of 5 g/m and a strength of 8.6 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 1 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of high pile were good.

EXAMPLE 3

[0043] A spinning solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. The spinning solition was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 2.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 85° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 2.2 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 100° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 15/inch and secondary crimps of 3/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 33.3% and a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 30.1%. This crimp tow was mixed with 60% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 20 mm and 40% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 11 denier, fiber length 44 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, although shrinkable staple fibers having a short fiber length of 20 mm were used in carding the staple fiber with a roller card, sliver breakage did not occur, and a sliver having a strong divergent force could be obtained. The sliver thus spun had a size of 4.5 g/m and a strength of 7.5 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 1 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of high pile were good.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2

[0044] Shrinkable staple synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 5/inch and having no secondary crimp were obtained in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1 except that the drying temperature in the dry heat treating machine was changed to 105° and the crimp tow was cut to a fiber length of 25 mm. The shrinkable staple fibers thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 27.5% and a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 24.5%. The sliver obtained using the shrinkable staple fibers in the same manner as in Example 1 suffered frequent occurrences of sliver breakage in the carding step. Thus, operation steps were unstable, and operation property was decreased. The sliver spun had a size of 4 g/m and a strength of 2.9 g/g/m. Further, in shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 1 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of the high pile were good.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 3

[0045] A spinning solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 4.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 80° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 3.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 3.0 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 110° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 18/inch and secondary crimps of 4/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 23.2% and a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 20.5%. This crimp tow was mixed with 50% by weight of-shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 32 mm and 50% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 15 denier, fiber length 51 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, nep occurred in carding the sliver, and the sliver unevenness was significant The sliver thus spun had a size of 5 g/m and a strength of 10.3 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 1 below. As is apparent from the results, feeling and finish state of the high pile were poor, and the processability deteriorated.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 4

[0046] 15% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 was mixed with 85% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber; KANEKARON RLM; a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 20 denier; fiber length 51 mm), and high pile was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. The results obtained are shown in Table 1 below. As is apparent from the results, since the pile in the down hair portion is less, the corrugated pile effect is weak, and the appearance is far away from that of a natural fur, but the feeling is very good. However, totally judging from the standpoint of the pile as a commercial product it cannot be said to be a corrugated pile product. TABLE 1 Shrinkable Staple Fiber Sliver Pile Secondary Wet heat Dry heat Shrinkable Loss Total Primary crimp crimp shrinkage shrinkage percentage fiber content Strength percentage Peel- Spinn- eval- No. (number/inch) (number/inch) percentage (%) (%) at 130° C. (%) (g/g/m) (%) ing ability uation Example 1 10 1 38.2 35.2 50 8 22 ∘ ∘ ∘ Example 2 11 2 35.3 32.3 60 5.6 21.5 ∘ ∘ ∘ Example 3 15 3 33.3 30.1 60 7.5 19.4 ∘ ∘ ∘ Comparative 6 0 38.2 35.2 50 sliver x — — x x Example 1 Comparative 5 0 27.5 24.5 50 2.9 23.5 ∘ x x Example 2 Comparative 18 4 23.2 20.5 50 10.3 30 x x x Example 3 Comparative 10 1 38.2 35.2 15 5 32.5 ∘ x x Example 4

EXAMPLE 4

[0047] Modacrylic polymer composed of 49.4% by weight of acrylonitrile, 49.9% by weight of vinyl chloride and 0.7% by weight of sodium styrenesulfonate was dissolved in acetone such that the polymer concentration was 30% by weight. 0.4% by weight of titanium oxide and a plurality of coloring agents were added to the resulting solution to prepare a spinning solution. The spinning solution was spun in a 30% acetone aqueous solution, stretched 1.5 times, washed with water at 60° C., a liquid added-which was prepared by emulsifying an organopolysiloxane having an amino group with a nonionic surfactant to the yarn (deposition amount: 0.2% by weight, calculated as silicon atom), dried at 130° C., and then further stretched 2.0 times at 100° C. to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 3.0 denier and a total fineness of 100,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 70° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 1.5 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 80° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 9.5/inch and secondary crimp of 1/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 38.8%, a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 35.8%, and a statical friction coefficient of 0.206. This crimp tow was mixed with 50% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 20 mm and 50% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 11 denier, fiber length 44 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, although shrinkable staple fibers having a short fiber length of 20 mm were used in carding the staple fiber with a roller card, sliver breakage did not occur, and a sliver having a strong divergent force could be obtained. The sliver thus spun had a size of 5 g/m and a strength of 8.6 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 2 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of high pile were good.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 5

[0048] A spinning solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 4. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 6.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 70° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 1.0 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried with a dry heat treating machine at 75° C. while decreasing the tow density to an extent such that crimps were not elongated. This crimp tow was cut in a fiber length of 20 mm to obtain shrinkable staple fibers having primary crimps of 6/inch. The shrinkable staple fibers thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 38.8%, a dry shrinkage percentage of 35.8% and a statical friction coefficient of 0.231. Using the shrinkable staple fibers, it was attempted to prepare a sliver in the same manner as in Example 4, but sliver breakage occurred frequently in the carding step. Thus, the processing steps were unstable and it was impossible to prepare a high pile.

EXAMPLE 5

[0049] Modacrylic polymer composed of 49.4% by weight of acrylonitrile, 49.9% by weight of vinyl chloride and 0.7% by weight of sodium styrenesulfonate was dissolved in acetone such that the polymer concentration was 30% by weight. 0.4% by weight of titanium oxide and a plurality of coloring agents were added to the resulting solution to prepare a spinning solution. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution, stretched 1.5 times, washed with water at 60° C., a liquid added which was prepared by emulsifying an organopolysiloxane having an amino group with a nonionic surfactant to the yarn (deposition amount: 0.15% by weight, calculated as silicon atom), dried at 130° C., and then further stretched 2.0 times at 100° C. to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 4.0 denier and a total fineness of 15

00 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 80° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 1.7 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 100° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 11/inch and secondary crimps of 2/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 36.9%, a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 33.9%, and a statical friction coefficient of 0.228. This crimp tow was mixed with 60% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 20 mm and 40% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 11 denier, fiber length 44 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, although shrinkable staple fibers having a short fiber length of 20 mm were used in carding the staple fiber with a roller card, sliver breakage did not occur, and a sliver having a strong divergent force could be obtained. The sliver thus spun had a size of 5 g/m and a strength of 9.2 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 2 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of high pile were good.

EXAMPLE 6

[0050] A spinning solution was prepared in the manner as in Example 4. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution, stretched 1.5 times, washed with water at 60° C., a liquid added which was prepared by emulsifying an organopolysiloxane having an amino group with a nonionic surfactant to the yarn (deposition amount: 0.25% by weight, calculated as silicon atom), dried at 130° C., and then further stretched 2.0 times at 100° C. to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 2.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 85° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 2.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 2.2 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 100° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 14.3/inch and secondary crimps of 3/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 34.2%, a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 29.9%, and a statical friction coefficient of 0.272. This crimp tow was mixed with 60% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 20 mm and 40% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 11 denier, fiber length 44 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, although shrinkable staple fibers having a short fiber length of 20 mm were used in carding the staple fiber with a roller card, sliver breakage did not occur, and a sliver having a strong divergent force could be obtained. The sliver thus spun had a size of 4.5 g/m and a strength of 8.0 g/g/m, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 2 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of high pile were good.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 6

[0051] Shrinkable staple synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 5.1/inch and having no secondary crimp were obtained in the same manner as in Comparative Example 5 except that the drying temperature in the dry heat treating machine was changed to 1050 and the crimp tow was cut to a fiber length of 25 mm. The shrinkable staple fibers thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 28.5%, a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 25.5% and a statical friction coefficient of 0.199. The sliver obtained using the shrinkable staple fibers in the same manner as in Comparative Example 4 suffered frequent occurrence of sliver breakage in the carding step. Thus operation steps were unstable, and operation property was decreased. The sliver spun has a size of 4 g/m and a strength of 2.9 g/g/m. Further, in shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. The results obtained are shown in Table 2 below. As is apparent from the results, appearance and feeling of the high pile were good.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 7

[0052] A spinning solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 4. The spinning solution was spun in a 25% acetone aqueous solution to obtain modacrylic fibers having a monofilament fineness of 4.0 denier and a total fineness of 150,000 denier. This tow, which was preheated to 80° C. with steam, was passed through a puch-in type crimper having been set with a crimper nip pressure of 3.0 kg/cm² and a stuffing pressure of 3.0 kg/cm². The tow filled in the crimper stuffing box was dried in a dry heat treating machine at 110° C. while maintaining the density of the tow as it was, thereby obtaining a crimp tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers having primary crimps of 17/inch and secondary crimps of 2/inch. The shrinkable fiber thus obtained showed a wet heat shrinkage percentage of 24.6%, a dry heat shrinkage percentage of 20.2% and a statical friction coefficient of 0.319. This crimp tow was mixed with 60% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers cut in a fiber length of 32 mm and 40% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber: KANEKARON RLM (a registered trade mark); a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 15 denier, fiber length 51 mm) to prepare a high pile. At the time of this pile-processing, nep occurred in carding the sliver, and the unevenness of the sliver was remarkable. The sliver thus spun had a size of 5 g/m and a strength of 9.3 μg/mm, and was excellent in operation property with high productivity. In shearing after sliver knitting, the pile length was cut to 20 mm, and the pile length after polishing finish was cut to 12 mm. However, elongation could not sufficiently be made in crimp elongation in the polishing step which was a subsequent step. The results obtained are shown in Table 2 below. As is apparent from the results, feeling and finish state of the high pile were poor, and the processability deteriorated.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 8

[0053] 15% by weight of shrinkable staple fibers prepared in the same manner as in Example 4 was mixed with 85% by weight of non-shrinkable fibers (modacrylic fiber; KANEKARON RLM; a product of Kaneka Corporation, monofilament fineness 20 denier, fiber length 51 mm), and high pile was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. The results obtained are shown in Table 2 below. As is apparent from the results, since the pile in the down hair portion is less, a corrugated pile effect is weak, and the appearance is far from that of a natural fur, but the feeling is very good. However, totally judging from the standpoint of the pile commercial product, it cannot be said to be a corrugated pile product. TABLE 2 Shrinkable Staple Fiber Dry heat Sliver Pile Primary Secondary Wet heat shrinkage Statical Shrinkable Loss Total crimp crimp shrinkage percentage friction fiber content Strength percentage Peel- Drape Spinn- eval- No. (number/inch) (number/inch) percentage (%) (%) at 130° C. coefficient (%) (g/g/m) (%) ing property ability uation Example 4 9.5 1 38.8 35.8 0.206 50 8.8 19.6 ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ Example 5 11 2 36.9 33.9 0.228 60 9.2 21.8 ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ Example 6 14.3 3 34.2 29.9 0.272 60 8 22.2 ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ Comparative 6 0 38.8 35.8 0.231 50 sliver x — — — x x Example 5 Comparative 5.1 0 28.5 25.5 0.199 50 2.9 24 ∘ ∘ x x Example 6 Comparative 17 2 24.6 20.2 0.319 50 9.3 31 x x x x Example 7 Comparative 9.5 1 38.8 35.8 0.206 15 5.6 33.2 ∘ ∘ x x Example 8

[0054] The fiber loss, feeling, drape property and spinnability of a high pile as shown in Tables 1 and 2 are determined according to the following methods.

[0055] (1) Fiber Loss

[0056] Proportion (%) of accumulated amount of loss to the amount of fibers introduced in each step in pile-processing stage (carding-final finishing)

[0057] (2) Feeling

[0058] A functional inspection (touch feeling of high pile surface) is conducted with five persons to determine acceptance or unacceptance. Where all five persons judge that a feeling is good, it is marked as acceptance (o), and in a case other than this, it is marked as unacceptance (x).

[0059] (3) Drape Property

[0060] A functional inspection (touch feeling when touching a ground fabric from a high pile surface side) is conducted by five persons to determine acceptance or unacceptance. Where all five persons judged that a drape property is good, it is marked as acceptance (o), and in a case other than this, it is marked as unacceptance (x).

[0061] (4) Spinnability

[0062] Where it is judged that spinning can be conducted in carding which is a pile-processing stage, it is marked as (o), and in a case other than this, it is marked as (x).

[0063] (5) Total Evaluation

[0064] With respect to a total evaluation of the above tests (1) to (4), in the case of passing all tests successfully, it is marked as (o), and in a case other than this, it is marked as (x). 

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for producing a pile product, which comprises mixing shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers to form sliver having a sliver strength of 3 g/g/m or more, and weaving or knitting ground fibers and the sliver to form a pile portion of shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers on a surface of a ground fabric of said ground fibers, wherein the sliver is obtained by passing preheated tow of shrinkable synthetic fibers through a push-in crimper, fixing the crimp form by drying the tow discharged from a crimper stuffing box of the push-in crimper in a dry heat treating machine while maintaining the density of the tow as filled in the crimper stuffing box, thereby obtaining a crimp tow, cutting the crimp tow, thereby obtaining crimp form-fixed shrinkable staple fibers having a shrinkage percent of 15% or more, having an average fiber length of 15 to 25 mm and containing 1 to 3/inch of secondary crimp, including primary crimps, mixing the crimp form-fixed shrinkable staple fibers and non-shrinkable staple fibers to form sliver containing 20 to 98% by weight of the crimp form-fixed shrinkable fibers, and subjecting the sliver to pile-processing to form a pile portion.
 2. The process for producing a pile product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of the primary crimps in the crimp form-fixed shrinkable staple fiber prior to pile-processing is 6 to 17/inch.
 3. The process for producing a pile product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the crimp form-fixed shrinkable staple fiber after pile-processing has 0.300 or less statical friction coefficient between fiber and fiber after shrinkage.
 4. The process for producing a pile product as claimed in claim 3, wherein the crimp form-fixed shrinkable staple fiber has an organopolysiloxane deposited on a surface thereof.
 5. The process for producing a pile product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the treatment temperature of the dry heat treating machine is 70 to 100° C. 